Kaizer Chiefs have confirmed a new arrangement of the promoted players from the reserve team, Mduduzi Shabalala, Wandile Duba and Samkelo Zwane.
Chiefs' development teams have been standing out in recent years, winning major tournaments in the respective divisions and three players, Shabalala, Duba and Zwane were rewarded with promotion to the first team.
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Amakhosi Head of Technical and Development Academy Molefi Ntseki says winning the Engen Champ of Champs gave them confidence that they have enough quality to promote some players.
"This was a very great success because over the years we had never even won the Gauteng provincial leg before," Ntseki said on the club's official website.
"Because of the quality that was assembled for the Engen competition and the DDC (DStv Diski Challenge), we saw three of our Reserve Team players getting promoted to the first team, Mduduzi Shabalala, Samkelo Zwane and Wandile Duba."
Shabalala and Duba were already in the fringes of the first team after they were promoted at the beginning of the season but their participation in the first team was limited as they had demanding school programme, doing matric.
Shabalala and Duba will now be available to head coach Arthur Zwane on a full-time basis after they completed their matric.
"From 1 December they started training full time with the first team squad, because before that Mdu and Duba were still at school and writing exams," Ntseki confirmed.
However, Samkelo Zwane, who has been touted as Njabulo Blom's successor in defensive midfield, will continue to have dual roles.
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"Samkelo will train with the first team but still play for the DDC team," Ntseki revealed.
The former Bafana Bafana coach went on to stress the emphasis the club puts on the education of their development players.
"As we know in football, talent is not enough and we are aware that youngsters go through various stages of development, so education plays a very important role," he carried on.
"The Club works with the parents to ensure the player goes to school and maintains discipline, which is essential to success in football.
"That is the reason our matriculants could not train full time with the first team. Their schoolwork came first," he added.
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